How Do Registered Nurses Understand Followership?

Purpose: This study addresses the question – how do RNs, who are members of a healthcare team in an acute care setting, understand followership? Research Design: This research was conducted following Charmaz’s approach to constructivist grounded theory. Sample/Setting: Eleven participants were recruited from two medical and two surgical units in a tertiary care hospital in Western Canada. Participants were registered nurses and employed in one of the target units. Methods/Procedure: This study was conducted between August 2021 and April 2022. After ethical and operational approvals were secured, the nurses participated in semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed and analyzed. Findings: The core category of trusting informal and formal leaders was co-constructed from the data. This reflects the nature and quality of the registered nurses’ relationships with informal and formal leaders and their confidence in the leader’s ability to guide the team toward their shared goal (safe and competent patient care). A conceptual model, titled Followership as Trust in Acute Care Nursing Teams, illustrates that the nurses’ decision to trust (and subsequently to engage in following) hinges on sharing the load (understanding one’s role, accepting one’s role, and working together); demonstrating knowledge (having experience, modelling, and mentoring); and connecting through communication (knowing the goal and communicating clearly). Conclusions: This study underscores the importance of trust between followers and leaders for effective team function and safe patient care. It also points to the need for more research on the follower-leader dynamic in nursing to inform education, policy, and practice so that every nurse possesses the knowledge and skill to be both a follower and a leader

Characterization of the Effects of IVIg on CNS Inflammation Leading to Non-Classical Disease in a Relapsing Remitting Model of EAE

Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIg) is a complex therapeutic used in the treatment of multiple autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The mechanism of action of IVIg is pleiotropic; there is increasing evidence that modulation of migration through the expression or function of selectins such as very late antigen-4 (VLA-4) may be central to therapeutic activity. The impetus for the present studies arose from an unexpected and novel observation that was made while investigating IVIg treatment in a relapsing remitting (RR) model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model for multiple sclerosis (MS). Specifically, treatment with IVIg led to a shift from classical ascending paralysis to a non-classical ataxic disease. Others have demonstrated that this change in phenotype reflects a shift in localization of inflammation from the spinal cord to the brain and brain stem in EAE. In line with recent reports showing that shifts from classical to non-classical disease phenotype is mediated by shifts in the relative abundance of T helper cells (Th1 and Th17 cells), we hypothesized our observation may reflect an effect of IVIg on VLA-4 mediated migration leading to differential localization of Th1 and Th17 cells to the CNS during inflammation. In the process of investigating this hypothesis three key observations were made: 1) There was a decrease in B cells in the CNS with IVIg treatment; we hypothesize the impacted B cells were regulatory B cells, based on the timing and context of their development. 2) An increase in CD8+ cells was observed in the anterior CNS associated with increased inflammation and demyelination; this population is hypothesized to be the effector population involved in the observed disease phenotype 3) We found evidence in the periphery suggesting IVIg has Th1 modulating activity that is overtly similar to anti-VLA-4 treatment in EAE reported previously by others

Are Split Tablet Keyboards Better? A Study of Soft Keyboard Layout and Hand Posture

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Conceptions of ‘research’ and their gendered impact on research activity: A UK case study

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Higher Education Research and Development in 2020, available online: DOI to be added when available.The last twenty years have seen an increased emphasis around the world on the quality and quantity of research in response to national research assessments, international league tables, and changes in government funding. The prevailing attitude in higher education embeds research as the ‘gold standard’ in the context of academic activity. However, a key feature of this trend is significant gender differences in research activity. We argue that research productivity is related to identification as a researcher, and that identifying as ‘research-active’ or not would appear to depend upon how an individual academic subjectively defines ‘research’. This article brings together two hitherto separate bodies of work 1) the impact of gender on academic research careers, and 2) academic conceptions of research. Through a combination of interviews, focus groups and questionnaires, we investigate the extent to which interpretations of ‘research’ and ‘research activity’ differ by gender within an institution in the UK and the potential impact of these interpretations. Although the research found that there are many similarities in the interpretations of ‘research activity’ between genders, we found one important difference between male and female participants’ conceptions of research and its relationship to teaching. Significantly, our findings suggest that there is a need to expand our existing conceptualisations of ‘research’ to include ‘research as scholarship’ in order to address the obstacles that current understanding of ‘research’ have placed on some academics. Self-definition as a researcher underlies research activity. A narrow conception of ‘research’ may prevent individuals from identifying as ‘research-active’ and therefore engaging with research

A Greek validation study of the Multiple Sclerosis Work Difficulties Questionnaire-23

The Multiple Sclerosis Work Difficulties Questionnaire-23 (MSWDQ-23) is a self-reportinstrument developed to assess barriers faced by People with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) in theworkplace. The aim of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of the Greek versionof the MSWDQ-23. The study sample consisted of 196 PwMS, all currently working in part- orfull-time jobs. Participants underwent clinical examination and cognitive screening with the BriefInternational Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) and completed self-reportmeasures of fatigue, psychological functioning, and quality of life, along with the MSWDQ-23questionnaire. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed, and goodness-of-fit measureswere used to evaluate construct validity. Convergent validity was checked by correlating MSWDQ-23scores with study measures. Cronbach’s alpha value was produced to assess internal consistency.CFA yielded a model with a fair fit confirming the three-factor structure of the instrument. Higherwork difficulties were associated with higher Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores, poorercognitive function, more fatigue, stress, anxiety, and depression, and poorer health status, supportingthe convergent validity of MSWDQ-23. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.94) and test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.996, 95%, CI = 0.990–0.998) were excellent. The Greek MSWDQ-23 can beconsidered a valid patient-reported outcome measure and can be used in interventions aiming toimprove the vocational status of PwMS

Evidence for an ependymoma tumour suppressor gene in chromosome region 22pter–22q11.2

Ependymomas are glial tumours of the brain and spinal cord. The most frequent genetic change in sporadic ependymoma is monosomy 22, suggesting the presence of an ependymoma tumour suppressor gene on that chromosome. Clustering of ependymomas has been reported to occur in some families. From an earlier study in a family in which four cousins developed an ependymoma, we concluded that an ependymoma-susceptibility gene, which is not the NF2 gene in 22q12, might be located on chromosome 22. To localize that gene, we performed a segregation analysis with chromosome 22 markers in this family. This analysis revealed that the susceptibility gene may be located proximal to marker D22S941 in 22pter–22q11.2. Comparative genomic hybridization showed that monosomy 22 was the sole detectable genetic aberration in the tumour of one of the patients. Loss of heterozygosity studies in that tumour revealed that, in accordance to Knudson’s two-hit theory of tumorigenesis, the lost chromosome 22 originated from the parent presumed to have contributed the wild-type allele of the susceptibility gene. Thus, our segregation and tumour studies collectively indicate that an ependymoma tumour suppressor gene may be present in region 22pter–22q11.2. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Genome-Wide Analysis of Subependymomas Shows Underlying Chromosomal Copy Number Changes Involving Chromosomes 6, 7, 8 and 14 in a Proportion of Cases

Subependymomas (SE) are slow-growing brain tumors that tend to occur within the ventricles of middle-aged and elderly adults. The World Health Organization classifies these tumors within the ependymoma group. Previous limited analysis of this tumor type had not revealed significant underlying cytogenetic abnormalities

Investigating student teachers’ presentations of literacy and literacy pedagogy in a complex context

The field of literacy and primary literacy education is patterned by multiple discourses and this raises challenges for those educating the next generation of primary literacy teachers. In England, the last 15 years have seen considerable levels of prescription in the primary literacy curriculum and compliance by the school and teacher education sectors has been enforced through demanding accountability regimes. In this paper, the authors draw on findings of a small-scale interview study to consider how understandings of literacies associated with different contexts may or may not inflect student teachers’ orientations towards literacy provision in school. The authors explore how five student teachers presented their experiences of literacy within and beyond the classroom and how they seemed to position themselves in relation to literacy pedagogy. The authors focus particularly on continuities and discontinuities between literacies in the student teachers’ personal and professional lives, and on tensions they identified between the teachers they felt they wanted to, and were expected to, become. Reflecting on this work, the authors consider how they can best equip pre-service primary and early years teachers to develop as critical reflective literacy practitioners in the current context